Cleaning Carpets and Keeping Them Clean

By

Cricketnc

I came up with a way to clean even years-old spots out of carpets. For lack of anything else handy to use one time I used my Super Steamer (the hand held kind with the long pointy nozzle that blows a blast of steam) on a dark red spot on my beige carpet where my dog had thrown up overnite. It cleaned it up in seconds and I couldn't even tell it had ever been there!

I started going around trying it on other older spots. Found one that I'm sure had been there for years, and it cleaned that right up too! I got all the spots up, and now I just do normal carpet shampooing every so often. I've even hired pros to come in and clean my carpets and they didnt' get these stains up. But my Super Steamer sure did!

By

ThriftyFun

I use a low-suds laundry detergent to pre-treat real bad areas, then go over them again with vinegar and water to get the soap residue out of the carpet (that's why your cleaned carpets get dirty faster.)

You can also pre-treat with laundry pre-treatment products like shout and spray and wash. If you use a carpet shampooer that you have warm water in, you can use oxi-cleaner in the water.

Test anything you use on a part of carpet that can't be seen. You do not need a lot of soap to clean with 1 OZ to a gallon of water

By Dee

By frances (Guest Post)

I bought a can of scotch guard in walmart not to long ago and it is not that costly

By Stacey (Guest Post)

From what I heard it is better to steam clean your carpets without any cleaner. If you use some kind of cleaner, you have to make sure that you clean that area really well or the cleaner will stay adhered to the carpet and attract dirt.

By Nancy (Guest Post)

I put newspaper over my cleaned carpet for a couple of days to make sure it was really dry. Then I sprayed with ScotchGard. It helped a lot.

By Ann (Guest Post)

I've had luck getting spots out of carpet (and furniture) with baby wipes. Any brand is fine. If the dirt reappears in the same area, I wonder if what you are currently cleaning with leaves a soap-type reside that would attract more dirt?

By Syd (Guest Post)

Janitor supply warehouses carry a "scotch guard" that you can buy ... only thing is you have to buy a case which is four (gal) bottles for around $95.00. You do have to put it in a sprayer, much like the carpet people do. Check to see if you have friends that would like to split an order with you.

I checked with several carpet stores and they said they do not sell it!

Hope this helps.

By

Jayne

Boy do I ever know what you mean. I'm in the same boat. The only thing I can suggest is using throw rugs in high traffic areas. And scheduling lots of "exercise" time (carpet cleaning time). Sometimes I just use a bucket of soapy water and a brush and do the worst spots and what really helps the ol' knees is using one of those pads for gardening. --Jayne